WP1: Market developments
- Regional bioenergy markets and transitions: Key actors, policies, and regulation regarding domestic deployment, trade of different feedstocks, and analysis of regional biomass mobilization and deployment strategies of low value-high diversity biomass streams; their future role in local markets taking into account competitiveness with international traded commodities (e.g., biomethane, pellets). What strategies, support mechanisms and infrastructures (e.g., logistics, processing industry) are needed to overcome economic and technical barriers in regional biomass mobilization? How canexperience from biomass mobilization strategies of developed markets be transferred to transregional concepts and strategies while taking local specificities and limitations into account?
- Sustainable biobased value chains in the circular bioeconomy context: During 2019-2021, the Task 40 Bioeconomy Synergies project set the scene for the nexus of different service types provided by the bioeconomy. Follow-up work will continue exploring interlinkages of these services types and how bioenergy applications can benefit from and drive the deployment of biogenic carbon networks. Unlike linear value chains that focus on providing a specific service, a biogenic carbon network interconnects different service types and enables circularity and cascadic use. Questions to be addressed include:
- What are synergies between and new joint market perspectives for ecosystem-, bioenergy-, biobased materials- and nutrient services?
- What are the roles of final customers (consumers/retailers) in markets and deployment, e.g., how to valorize sustainability benefits by end-user/markets across the bioeconomy?
- How could biorefinery/bioeconomy clusters shape the circular bioeconomy on a regional scale?
- What are the distinguishing features and possible competitive advantages of a circular bioeconomy embedded in a broader renewable carbon economy?
WP2: BECCUS & carbon markets/valorization
- Industrial processes: technologies, markets, and deployment – exploring technical options and industrial markets that can be targeted in the short and medium term (focus on high temperature heat). Identify bioenergy pathways that could be alternatives or complements to CC(U)S
- Management of Biogenic CO2: BECCUS Inter-task Phase 2 (follow-up strategic intertask project): During 2019-2021, BECCUS development progressed to the point where several projects are announced with timelines that could entail some commercial BECCS plants coming into operation in Europe around the closing of the 2022-2024 triennium. This means that new questions pertaining to actual deployment will arise, including financing mechanisms and detailed design of policy frameworks. Here, the outcome of the work in the ongoing BECCUS intertask project will be an excellent starting point for more detailed analysis in a second phase.
WP3: Deployment Strategies
- Guidance on sustainable financing: How to set up financing of biobased value chains – what are success factors/best practices for investors? A key question here is to clarify how investments in biobased projects are different from e.g., solar & wind where capital cost is dominant, whereas for biobased systems, substantial feedstock (operational) costs are relevant. This implies different investment risks that need to be addressed adequately. In addition, financing needs to reflect regulatory frameworks, including carbon finance, and instruments such as the EU Taxonomy. These are all aspects that will be relevant for BECCUS development as well, and there will thus be potential synergies with the continuation of the BECCUS work.
- Synergies of green hydrogen and bio-based value chains deployment: Technologies such as Power-to-Gas (PtG), Power-to-Liquids (PtL) and hydrogen (of various “colors”) are emerging and could compete with bioenergy’s role in using existing infrastructures (e.g. pipelines, storage facilities), and in providing flexible services in energy markets (electricity, heat, transport). In order to rather enable competitive advantages between bioenergy applications and green hydrogen applications in particular, it is considered to look into major synergies between their deployment pathways. It is expected that there are several synergies for example utilizing the same infrastructure that could benefit the economic deployment of both bio-based value chains and green hydrogen/hydrogen-based fuels and the overall energy system demands. The aim is to identify value chains that could deploy the synergies and create a clearer overall picture of the promising value chains and their potential and future needs. Thereby, (1) defining criteria and possible value chains that combine hydrogen production and bioenergy deployment for different end-products and (2) identifying drivers and barriers for the different routes will be covered as main activities.
